Disney Takes Over Hulu, Giving It a Second Streaming Service

Disney hasn’t even launched its streaming service, Disney+, yet, but it already has a second streaming site. And this one’s up and running right now.

That’s because the company announced today via press release it had assumed “full operational control of Hulu, effective immediately” from Comcast. There’s a complex deal between Disney and Comcast involved, but essentially by January 2024, Comcast and Disney will finish a transaction where by the latter will own the former’s interest in the popular streaming site, where viewers watch recently aired episodes of TV, along with a back catalogue of films and shows, plus originals like the critically acclaimed A Handmaid’s Tale. But the key part is that Disney fully controls the site right now.

What that means for Hulu’s library, which has quietly become one of the better ones on the internet — with a stronger mix of recent films and catalogue titles than the more popular Netflix — remains to be seen. But if I were you, and there were things on there I wanted to watch that weren’t produced by Fox or Disney, I’d do it sooner rather than later.

As to the question of why Disney would want more control of Hulu when they already have Disney+ coming this fall, it’s simple: With the purchase of Fox and its many shows and films, they now control content that wouldn’t fit on Disney+ because it’s too graphic or too adult or just too weird. The stuff that isn’t appropriate for Disney+ can live on Hulu. And you can sell consumers who want more options two services instead of one. It also means control of a bigger slice of the streaming market — and, presumably, of the future of film and television consumption.